LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Collins’ rhetoric needs funds

Mayor D. Michael Collins has promised to clean the city of Toledo of blight and crime “one neighborhood at a time” (“Mayor touts $244M general-fund budget; Collins defends city pay raises,” March 20). This is wonderful, inspirational political rhetoric, but will he be able to fulfill his promise on such a tight budget?

If activities and jobs aren’t found for the city’s young people, it could be a long, hot summer for law enforcement officials, parents, and the public.

I hope the mayor has a good plan, plenty of support, and ways to raise money.

Education is heralded as the linchpin to stem the tide of addiction (“Addiction 101,” editorial, March 7). But addicts have one thing in common. Whether addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, gambling, or pornography, all addicts once believed: “It will never happen to me.”

Do you think anyone ever picked up his first cigarette and thought, “Oh boy! The beginning of a two-pack a day, 40-year habit”? High school kids will never look at life that way.

Rarely discussed, but crucial to recovery, and essential if an addict is to find his or her way through the labyrinth of their addictive madness, is the knowledge that addiction is a spiritual sickness. Call it a psychological malady if religiosity is offensive.

Life is hard, and addiction is a complicated issue, with each addict facing a unique set of challenges. To walk with God is the only way to successfully navigate life.

DON GOZDOWSKI

Franklin Avenue

Legalizing drugs a problem-solver

There’s been a crackdown on the illegal trade in prescription painkillers, but now there’s a heroin epidemic in Ohio. Should that be a surprise?

When is society going to learn that prohibition doesn’t work? It didn’t work for alcohol, and it’s not going to work for any other drug for which there is a significant demand.

If we decriminalized drugs, including prescription medications, and treated them as we do alcohol and tobacco, we’d have greater drug purity standards and hence fewer accidental overdose deaths.

There also would be a reduction in the prison population, enormous savings in criminal justice enforcement, another tax revenue stream, and an army of unemployed drug pushers who’d have to find better ways to make a living. What’s not to like?

BOB AVERY

Glendale Avenue

More pizzazz may boost health rolls

The picture of U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) and Health and Human Services Department official Kathleen Falk lacks excitement (“Visit aims to spark health-care sign-ups,” March. 8). Perhaps they should’ve donned Statue of Liberty outfits and danced on a street corner. That maybe would’ve generated more than the six people who scheduled appointments to sign up for health care.